For a few days last fall, a contingent of Condé Nast Traveler editors traded one high-octane island (Manhattan) for another (Singapore), to host the World Savers Congress, the magazine's fourth annualand first internationalconference on responsible tourism.

The event kicked off with cocktails at Ku Dé Ta, the glamorous new rooftop restaurant 57 stories above Singapore's Marina Bay, although most guestsa mix of visionary CEOs, conservationists, and leaders of global nonprofits, representing dozens of countries in allhad even loftier ambitions. "I firmly believe that no one need die of HIV/AIDS," said Andrew Payne, CEO of southern Africa's Wilderness Safaris. One of the magazine's World Savers Award winners, Wilderness Safaris provides HIV/AIDS education, medication, and counseling to all 2,800 employees.

Hubert Joly, CEO of Carlson, traveled from Minneapolis to discuss, among other topics, his company's commitment to preventing child sex tourism. (According to the United Nations, 1.2 million children a year are victims of sex trafficking.) "As a company, as an industry, you have the ability to change the world," Joly said. "There's a moral duty to have an impact."

Then there were the people behind Six Senses Resorts & Spasanother award winner doesn't think so. Oines was one of several panelists convened to discuss how travel companies address health issues. Six Senses has banned plastic water bottles at its resorts and supplies clean water and basic sanitation to people in the developing world (250,000 so far) by donating half the revenue it earns from selling its own water to guests. From his seat on the panel, Oines encouraged other hoteliers to follow suit. "If the ten big players got involved, we could eradicate all water problems around the world in a decade."

Not all was sunny in Singapore. Hazy skies, caused by mass forest clearings in neighboring Sumatra, were a dreary reminder that environmental destruction in the name of development is a pressing problem throughout Asia, and tourism can be blamed for much of it.

"Tourism is a double-edged sword," said Ho Kwon Ping, executive chairman of Singapore-based Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, as he accepted a World Savers Award in the Large Hotel Chain category. While tourism development lifts people out of poverty, "wrongly done, it can ravage the physical environment" and "degrade cultures." The answer, says Ho, is "a holistic, balanced, and sustainable form of development," especially in rapidly growing Asia. Later, he proposed that Condé Nast Traveler help the process by offering "China Savers Awards" next year.

Recap the events with our complete online coverage of the World Savers Congress 2010 on truth.travel.